Storage Guardian delivers business continuity protection and information lifecycle management. Its remote backup service is the culmination of a decade of intense research and software development and represents a superior alternative to tape-based data recovery systems. All Storage Guardian’s solutions are based on Televaulting technology from Asigra, a recognized leader in enterprise online backup. The company is also developing a select network of authorized VARs to service the off-site backup and fast data recovery needs of companies located throughout North America. www.storageguardian.com.
You’ve probably seen a few of the numerous online backup services aimed at consumers and casual users. They’re fine for people who want a quick and easy way to ensure that their important files are backed-up offsite.
But what most people don’t realize is that, in many cases, if you delete a file from your computer, after 30 days that file will also be deleted from the online backup. That’s not so great for businesses that need a permanent backup solution. So Storage Guardian has just launched a new service that’s designed for home-business/small-business users that want a set-it-and-forget-it online backup service, priced accordingly.
The new service, Storage Guardian Mobile Client, is aimed at smaller companies and SOHO users, which often have several desktop computers, numerous laptops, and some network-attached storage units. It’s still based on the Asigra platform, so it provides an all-inclusive backup and recovery service that ensures all crucial data is safely backup-up to a secure, offsite datacenter.
Long-term data protection of up to 1TB of data is provided for as little as $50/month, with additional storage costing 4.9 cents per gigabyte.
Storage Guardian Launches Unlimited Online Backup for Mobile, Small Business and Home Office
Aimed at businesses that need worry-free backup of all laptops and network-attached storage devices, new Storage Guardian Mobile Client service ensures remote workers are continually backed-up and protected. Long-term data protection of 1TB of data is as little as $50/month.
TORONTO, CANADA:Storage Guardian, the company that specializes in online and cloud backup solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, has launched Storage Guardian Mobile Client, an enterprise-grade service for Windows environments that need more than typical mass-market backup products can offer at affordable rate and with maximum flexibility. For these businesses, which often have several desktop computers, and numerous laptops and some network-attached storage units, Storage Guardian Mobile Client provides an all-inclusive backup and recovery service that ensures all crucial data is safely backup-up to a secure, offsite datacenter.
Storage Guardian’s new Mobile Client service lets users add an unlimited number of laptops and storage devices and then pay as they go, with no upfront payment and no per-seat charge. It offers all the features of its enterprise backup technology, including agentless operation, easy deployment, and intelligent, secure data compression. And, unlike most mass-market backup services, which retain only the last 30 days of data, Storage Guardian offers the ability to retain deleted files in the backup set forever.
“Storage Guardian Mobile Client is ideal for small businesses that need to backup office documents along with files associated with specialized engineering, imaging or graphics applications,” said Dave Minns, client services manager at Storage Guardian. “We offer an inexpensive service with the data headroom to include any computer or disk attached to the local network, as well as any laptop that’s connected to the Internet, no matter where it is. And along with this highly robust service, they get our expertise and technical support, whenever they need it.”
With Storage Guardian’s Mobile Client online backup service, numerous devices can be added to one account, making it easy to manage backups and costs. The service is also very cost-effective: protecting one terabyte of compressed data costs as little $50 per month, with additional storage costing 4.9 cents per gigabyte.
Storage Guardian Mobile Client backup service features:
• Fast backup and recovery via intuitive wizards and easy-to-understand options.
• Self-management so that any user can backup and restore his or her data anytime, anywhere.
• Simple and jargon-free design, perfect for novice users.
• Option to ship USB drive containing restore date for recovery of large datasets.
Storage Guardian is the leader for small-business online backup
With more than ten years of experience and thousands of satisfied customers, Storage Guardian’s remote data backup service has established itself as a dependable provider of enterprise-grade online backup technology for smaller companies. What sets it apart from the many low-cost alternatives in the market are online data backup features optimized for businesses that depend on Microsoft Small Business Server 2003/2008, Microsoft SharePoint, and Lotus Notes.
Storage Guardian and SAS 70 (Type II)
Storage Guardian has completed the Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70 for service providers, receiving a service auditor’s Type II report. The SAS 70 Type II report is a widely recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and affirms that Storage Guardian’s policies and procedures are appropriately designed with the proper controls in place, and functioning as designed.
About Storage Guardian
Storage Guardian delivers business continuity protection and information lifecycle management. Storage Guardian is used by small and midsize businesses, enterprises, and multiple-platform LAN computing environments that want to safeguard their critical business data in a secure, off-site location. Its remote backup service is the culmination of a decade of intense research and software development and represents a superior alternative to tape-based data recovery systems. All Storage Guardian’s solutions are based on televaulting technology from Asigra, a recognized leader in enterprise online backup. The company is also developing a select network of authorized VARs to service the off-site backup and fast data recovery needs of companies located throughout North America. For more, visit www.storageguardian.com and follow Storage Guardian on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
You’ve certainly heard about the popular trend that’s seeing data and apps head into the cloud Until now, it’s really only made sense for enterprises and larger businesses to deploy and manage cloud services.
But now, even small businesses can take advantage of the efficiencies and cost savings offered by cloud computing because Storage Guardian has launched a cloud computing service.
Storage Guardian Debuts Metered Computing for Small Businesses
Storage Guardian Cloud Computing enables companies to reduce hardware capital expenses and maintenance. “Pay-as-you-go” model offers complete flexibility with instant savings, and can be coupled with Storage Guardian online backup for a comprehensive cloud continuity solution.
TORONTO, CANADA: Storage Guardian, the company that specializes in online and cloud backup solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, has launched metered computing services that, for the first time, make enterprise-grade cloud computing accessible to a company of any size. Storage Guardian Cloud Computing, which is available exclusively through Storage Guardian’s VAR/MSP partner network, makes it possible for any company to eliminate in-house hardware and move desktop and server software applications from their in-house IT environment to a ‘private cloud,’ where they are accessed, managed and paid for on an as-needed, ‘utility’ basis.
Storage Guardian Cloud Computing is an ideal solution for any company that is considering purchasing a new server to run a new application, purchasing additional licenses of a software application, or scaling up internal computing resources to meet the needs of new projects or employees. Cloud computing also makes sense for companies with teams of remote workers that need secure access to enterprise data. Any application that is currently accessed as a shared resource can be migrated to Storage Guardian’s cloud, especially business applications where minimal downtime is essential.
Storage Guardian Cloud Computing enables companies to:
• Eliminate or reduce capital investments associated with information technology
• Reduce the labor burden associated with technology infrastructure management
• Eliminate the real-estate requirements of an in-house datacenter
• Align IT infrastructure costs with fluctuations in business cycles
• Reduce time-to-market for IT infrastructure deployment
Getting started with Storage Guardian Cloud Computing is easy
Adding Storage Guardian Cloud Computing to an existing network is as easy as adding a new server to a corporate LAN. Its physical location is transparent to users, who login and access applications and data just as they did before - except these applications now reside on a secure, private cloud. Network controls and firewall security are built in, along with high redundancy and availability. Storage Guardian Cloud Computing is powered by 6fusion’s patent-pending Workload Allocation Cube model, which tracks CPU, disk and network usage, and bills these computing resources as units of actual consumption.
For more information and to get started with cloud computing, visit www.storageguardian.com.
For years, our high-performance cloud services have successfully delivered exceptionally reliable online backup services to thousands of businesses, so cloud computing represents a logical and complementary service that will save them additional money and further insulate them from business disruption,” said Dave Minns, client services director at Storage Guardian. “We think many companies will find it attractive to pay for their computing needs just the same way as they pay for their electricity and gas: as they actually use them. We’re also recruiting channel partners looking to offer cloud computing to their customer base.”
Storage Guardian cloud-based computing and data backup delivers business continuity
With more than ten years of experience and thousands of satisfied customers, Storage Guardian has established itself as a leader in small-business cloud continuity services. In addition to its cloud computing service, the company also offers enterprise-grade online data backup services optimized for the needs of small to medium-size companies. Unlike consumer-focused backup alternatives, Storage Guardian online backup is specifically designed for businesses that depend on Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Microsoft Small Business Server 2003/2008, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, Novell GroupWise, and Lotus Notes. When used in conjunction with Storage Guardian Cloud Computing, a company can maximize the benefits of cloud-based business continuity protection.
Storage Guardian is SAS 70 (Type II)-compliant
Storage Guardian has completed the Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70 for service providers, receiving a service auditor’s Type II report. The SAS 70 Type II report is a widely recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and affirms that Storage Guardian’s policies and procedures are appropriately designed with the proper controls in place, and functioning as designed.
About Storage Guardian
Storage Guardian delivers business continuity protection and information lifecycle management. Storage Guardian is used by small and midsize businesses, enterprises, and multiple-platform LAN computing environments that want to safeguard their critical business data in a secure, off-site location. Its remote backup service is the culmination of a decade of intense research and software development and represents a superior alternative to tape-based data recovery systems. Storage Guardian’s online backup is based on televaulting technology from Asigra, a recognized leader in enterprise online backup. The company also sells it services through a network of authorized VARs and MSPs. For more information, visit www.storageguardian.com and Twitter @storageguardian.
If you’re using tape backup you really should read this. Maybe you’re sticking with tape because you think online backup is pricey (it isn’t). Maybe you like the idea of having all your data on-premise (you shouldn’t). Or maybe you relish the daily/weekly/monthly juggling of tapes, and rather like the way they can double as coasters for your beverage (send us a photo). Whatever your reason, we’re here to tell you that it’s time to move on.
The reason? Now we’re offering local disk backup that works seamlessly with our WAN online backup. Which means you have the best of both worlds - fast, local restore of critical files AND secure, long-term, offsite archival of less important data.
And, we’ll let you keep the coasters.
Storage Guardian Adds Low-Cost, Local-Only Disk Backup to Online Backup Services
Complementing offsite vaulting with a local backup means small and medium-size businesses can restore critical data at LAN speeds, eliminate tape backup, and benefit from a cost-effective strategy for offsite data migration. Pricing as low as 25 cents per compressed gigabyte, per month.
TORONTO, CANADA—October 7, 2010: Storage Guardian, the company that specializes in online and cloud backup solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, now offers a local backup to fast, reliable hard disks in addition to its enterprise-grade online data backup strategies. Storage Guardian’s local-only backup service offers all the features of its enterprise backup technology, including agentless operation for easy deployment and intelligent, secure data compression, and adds the additional benefits of reducing WAN bandwidth needs and fast restore of mission-critical data at LAN speeds, whenever needed.
Priced as low as 25 cents per compressed gigabyte, per month, Storage Guardian’s high-availability disk-to-disk backup is designed to replace slow, cumbersome and unreliable tape backup, offering advanced features optimized for Microsoft-based shops and virtualized environments:
• Faster backups and recoveries than traditional tape methods
• Advanced functionality for managing and archiving data long-term
• Compatible with a wide variety of platforms, including Windows Small Business Server 2003 / 2008, SBS, MS SQL, Exchange, Sharepoint and VMWare
• Advanced backup and recovery options for virtualized environments
• Brick-level recovery of Exchange data
• Average 3:1 compression ratio, reducing disk space on the backup appliance
“We make it possible for companies to blend onsite and offsite data backup so they can create appropriate backup strategies for all clients on the network, and for all types of data from ordinary to mission-critical,” said Dave Minns, client services manager at Storage Guardian. “Storage Guardian online data backup means no software agent is needed on each client, minimal upfront op-ex licensing costs, and a low per-gigabyte price.”
Local-only disk backup complements online backup strategies
Local-only backup works hand-in-hand with Storage Guardian’s online backup service, providing a number of attractive advantages for companies that need to balance data availability with the cost of security and peace of mind:
• Local-only backup offers a low-cost, agentless replacement for tape-based solutions.
• Reduces WAN bandwidth costs by backing up essential data to a local server, potentially reducing the load on WAN resources.
• Each generation backed up for a Local-Only Backup Set is independently restorable and does not depend on other generations of the same file.
• The data is compressed locally and resides on customer premises for fast and instant restore.
• Local-Only Backup Sets can be easily migrated to offsite backup sets.
• Most importantly, Local-Only Backup aligns the value of data with the cost of protecting it.
Storage Guardian brings several key benefits to smaller companies looking to take advantage of cloud backup and recovery. With Asigra Cloud Backup v10 powering Storage Guardian’s online backup service, customers can improve recovery times, reduce operational costs, and are provided with data protection without limits to meet their dynamic IT requirements.
A no-cost, 30-day trial is available here: http://www.storageguardian.com/free_trial.php.
Storage Guardian’s latest online backup software includes advanced features such as:
• Ability to backup laptops in the field
• Tiered recovery (local-only backup to machines on customer premises, and offsite backup to a service provider or private cloud), allowing users to better align the value of data with the cost of protecting it, while achieving higher Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs)
• Deployment as a virtual appliance within virtual infrastructures for maximum application mobility, scalability and uptime.
• Advanced FIPS 140-2 NIST-certified security and encryption of data, both in-flight and at-rest
• New backup sets for comprehensive protection of enterprise applications, including MS Exchange, MS SharePoint, MS SQL, Windows Server Hyper-V, Oracle SBT, Sybase, and local-only backup.
Balancing Performance and Cost with Flexible Tiered Recovery Options
Storage Guardian’s online data backup is built on the Asigra’s hybrid cloud deployment model, giving users the freedom to backup to a public cloud for offsite recovery, build a private cloud for onsite recovery or select a hybrid of the two models. With Asigra v10, users can create tiered backup policies that align the value of the data with the cost of protecting it. Establishing policies for local backup sets allows IT to segment the data and choose what gets backed up locally on their private cloud. The local backup sets option enables companies to replace their typical tape-based local backup solution — with all of its pain, cost and complexity – with fast and simple backup to a local disk-based private cloud.
Storage Guardian is the leader for small-business online backup
With more than ten years of experience and thousands of satisfied customers, Storage Guardian’s remote data backup service has established itself as a dependable provider of enterprise-grade online backup technology for smaller companies. What sets it apart from the many low-cost alternatives in the market are online data backup features optimized for businesses that depend on Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Microsoft Small Business Server 2003/2008, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, Novell GroupWise, and Lotus Notes.
Storage Guardian and SAS 70 (Type II)
Storage Guardian has completed the Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70 for service providers, receiving a service auditor’s Type II report. The SAS 70 Type II report is a widely recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and affirms that Storage Guardian’s policies and procedures are appropriately designed with the proper controls in place, and functioning as designed.
About Storage Guardian
Storage Guardian delivers business continuity protection and information lifecycle management. Storage Guardian is used by small and midsize businesses, enterprises, and multiple-platform LAN computing environments that want to safeguard their critical business data in a secure, off-site location. Its remote backup service is the culmination of a decade of intense research and software development and represents a superior alternative to tape-based data recovery systems. All Storage Guardian’s solutions are based on televaulting technology from Asigra, a recognized leader in enterprise online backup. The company is also developing a select network of authorized VARs to service the off-site backup and fast data recovery needs of companies located throughout North America. For more, visit www.storageguardian.com and Twitter @storageguardian
The data you backup has varying operational value.
So why don’t most backup vendors offer you flexible pricing?
Long ago, before the dawn of time and the internet, we treated all data as equal. On that basis, all data was backed up to one type of storage medium, and there it stayed. Since then, most businesses have been overwhelmed by an explosion of data. And we’re told what data needs to be kept, under what circumstances, with what security protection, and for how long.
But guess what… not all data is created equal. Most companies have some data that’s crucial, but will never change (a contract, for example). On the flip side, there’s database records, current documents, email, contact and calendar information — data that could really impair a company’s ability to operate if it could not be immediately restored after a catastrophe.
This means we must tailor our backup strategies accordingly. And once that data is backed up, we need to implement intelligent data management strategies that maximize efficiency along the conflicting axes of data availability and cost of storage.
We work with our customers to design Data Lifecycle Management (DLM) strategies for them. How do you manage long-term storage of crucial operational data vs. stagnant data? This is part of implementing an Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) strategy that defines the date after which a particular category of data is migrated from one (higher cost) storage system to another, less expensive storage system.
We call the less expensive option “Tiered Storage.” We think our customers should be able to formulate and utilize the rules for migrating their data, and in so doing benefit from lower costs. In this simple diagram, $Y & $Z are of course much lower in cost than $X , so we design a blended pricing model that results in a very competitive overall monthly cost.
How does this work, in practice? It all starts with our software, which enables you to develop your own rules. We work with you to first identify operationally critical, “young” data (which requires more frequent backups on higher performance devices )that is needed to get back into business. Less critical, “inactive” backups are relegated to less expensive, lower performance devices. And then older, stagnant versions of backup files are moved to slower devices to further reduce costs. Yet, any backed-up data, on whatever type of device, can be restored whenever needed.
Don’t lock in your backup data costs to one arbitrary high $ value; make sure you have the flexibility to manage it based on its value to your business. Storage Guardian can help you get the most out of your backup investment, and minimize your monthly costs.
We’ve got some good news for all our customers as well as any small-business owner who’s concerned about their online backup plan. Storage Guardian has made the move to Asigra version 10, which gives our customers and channel partners an even more potent online backup solution.
New features include:
• New client software to intelligently backup laptops in the field
• Tiered recovery (local-only backup to machines on customer’s premises, offsite backup to a service provider or private cloud), allowing users to better align the value of data with the cost of protecting it, while achieving higher Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs)
• Deployment as a virtual appliance within virtual infrastructures for maximum application mobility, scalability and uptime.
• Advanced FIPS 140-2 NIST-certified security and encryption of data, both in-flight and at-rest
• New backup sets for comprehensive protection of enterprise applications, including MS Exchange, MS SharePoint, MS SQL, Windows Server Hyper-V, Oracle SBT, Sybase, and local-only backup.
Support for Asigra Cloud Backup v10 means small and medium-sized companies can benefit from tiered recovery and integrate mobile/laptop and virtual environments into their backup strategy
TORONTO, CANADA—July 15, 2010: Storage Guardian, the company that specializes in online and cloud backup solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, has upgraded its cloud backup software to Asigra v10, an advanced backup and recovery software platform fully optimized for cloud computing. The latest edition of the industry’s most advanced backup software enables Storage Guardian and its channel partners to extend the reach and performance of its backup technology across the broadest range of computing environments, enabling even small companies to implement enterprise-grade backup, recovery, and protection.
“Our managed service provider and trusted advisor partners are looking to us to keep them abreast of the latest trends, so we’re delighted to be rolling out support for Asigra v10,†said Dave Minns, client services manager at Storage Guardian. “This latest online backup platform provides flexible and affordable service delivery to any size organization—from small businesses to the distributed enterprise—and is aligned with the technology and performance demands of modern IT infrastructures.â€
Gregory Baharoff of MTBW Services in Mount Airy, Maryland, is a long-time reseller of Storage Guardian online backup software. He was initially attracted to the Storage Guardian’s ability to handle both Windows-centric and heterogeneous OS environments, as well as its competitive pricing. In addition to OS flexibility and support for virtual environments, he says his customers appreciate the financial benefits of backup lifecycle management. “What’s nice is that Storage Guardian gives my customers a way to keep backup costs in check without compromising security. They can decide which information gets backed up onsite, and which is stored offline, and the precise rules that determine this balance as time goes by and data ages,†says Baharoff. “In fact, we like it so much, we use it to backup all our own critical data.â€
Advancements in Asigra v10 include comprehensive protection for laptops, desktops, servers, data centers and cloud computing environments, with tiered recovery options that meet the most stringent Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs). All Storage Guardian customers and channel partners are currently being automatically migrated to this new platform.
Storage Guardian brings several key benefits to smaller companies looking to take advantage of cloud backup and recovery. With Asigra Cloud Backup v10 powering Storage Guardian’s online backup service, customers can improve recovery times, reduce operational costs, and are provided with data protection without limits to meet their dynamic IT requirements.
New features offered in Storage Guardian’s latest online backup software include:
— DS-Mobile support to backup laptops in the field
— Tiered recovery (local-only backup to machines on customer’s premises, offsite backup to a service provider or private cloud), allowing users to better align the value of data with the cost of protecting it, while achieving higher Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs)
— Deployment as a virtual appliance within virtual infrastructures for maximum application mobility, scalability and uptime.
— Advanced FIPS 140-2 NIST-certified security and encryption of data, both in-flight and at-rest
— New backup sets for comprehensive protection of enterprise applications, including MS Exchange, MS SharePoint, MS SQL, Windows Server Hyper-V, Oracle SBT, Sybase, and local-only backup.
Balancing Performance and Cost with Flexible Tiered Recovery Options
Storage Guardian’s online data backup is built on the Asigra’s hybrid cloud deployment model, giving users the freedom to backup to a public cloud for offsite recovery, build a private cloud for onsite recovery or select a hybrid of the two models. With Asigra v10, users can create tiered backup policies that align the value of the data with the cost of protecting it. Establishing policies for local backup sets allows IT to segment the data and choose what gets backed up locally on their private cloud. The local backup sets option enables companies to replace their typical tape-based local backup solution — with all of its pain, cost and complexity – with fast and simple backup to a local disk-based private cloud.
Why Storage Guardian is the leader for small-business online backup
With more than ten years of experience and thousands of satisfied customers, Storage Guardian’s remote data backup service has established itself as a dependable provider of enterprise-grade online backup technology for smaller companies. What sets it apart from the many low-cost alternatives in the market are online data backup features optimized for businesses that depend on Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Microsoft Small Business Server 2003/2008, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, Novell GroupWise, and Lotus Notes.
Storage Guardian and SAS 70 (Type II)
Storage Guardian has completed the Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70 for service providers, receiving a service auditor’s Type II report. The SAS 70 Type II report is a widely recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and affirms that Storage Guardian’s policies and procedures are appropriately designed with the proper controls in place, and functioning as designed.
About Storage Guardian
Storage Guardian delivers business continuity protection and information lifecycle management. Storage Guardian is used by small and midsize businesses, enterprises, and multiple-platform LAN computing environments that want to safeguard their critical business data in a secure, off-site location. Its remote backup service is the culmination of a decade of intense research and software development and represents a superior alternative to tape-based data recovery systems. All Storage Guardian’s solutions are based on televaulting technology from Asigra, a recognized leader in enterprise online backup. The company is also developing a select network of authorized VARs to service the off-site backup and fast data recovery needs of companies located throughout North America. For more, visit www.storageguardian.com and Twitter @storageguardian
We’re very pleased to report that we’ve attained SAS 70 (Type II) compliance. The SAS 70 Type II report is a widely recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and affirms that Storage Guardian’s policies and procedures are appropriately designed with the proper controls in place, and functioning as designed.
Why did we do this? Well, we believe this is an important certification since our customers are trusting us to manage critical information for them. Undergoing SAS 70 was no mean feat since subjected our internal systems and infrastructure to a series of rigorous tests - sustained over time.
The SAS 70 Type II audit focused on our datacenter and the hosted service we offer to our customers and resellers. Additionally, the auditors evaluated other aspects of our organization and culture, including our management philosophy, human resources policies, training, and a variety of controls that ensure the company’s overall control environment is consistent with our stated mission of offering “comprehensive and bullet-proof†data protection and recovery services to our clients.
You’ll be happy to know that “All data requested was provided to the auditors in an appropriate format, including employee manuals, security doctrines, training records, past employee records, sample customer contracts, backup records, regular maintenance logs, a tour of the off-site backup facility, and other relevant items that would enable the auditors to form an independent opinion that Storage Guardian met the requirements of the SAS 70 Type II report.â€
If you’re already a Storage Guardian customer or reseller, the SAS 70 certification speaks volumes (no pun intended!) about our commitment to providing you the highest possible level of information integrity. And if you’re considering selecting us as your online backup provider, we hope this will ensure you give us a serious look.
Storage Guardian and ASCII Group invite VARs, MSPs and solutions providers to learn how to create long-term relationships and multi-year annuity revenue streams for their business. Attend this information-rich seminar to learn how to successfully deploy enterprise-grade cloud online backup services to SMBs, and to understand why these services are more appropriate for business customers than consumer-grade backup products.
Aimed at small-business IT managers, and VARs and MSPs who sell into the small and medium-sized business sector, this free webinar will focus on the issue of handling the backup and recovery of valuable email messages.
Remember the fax? Not so long ago, it was considered an essential business communication medium. Nowadays, most important business decisions are conveyed via email. So, what happens if you need to recover that crucial email message that was deleted just a few weeks ago? You’ll need a solution that can find that message without interrupting the current email system. That can be a real challenge.
Storage Guardian’s Dave Minns will show you how to apply the latest Asigra-based televaulting technology to perform highly granular archival of email messages. Storage Guardian’s technology understands the inner workings of email platforms of Exchange, Outlook, GroupWise and Notes, and can backup and restore an individual email, calendar entry or contact to the original owner’s system.
You will learn how you can implement this approach for your clients, and tips on how to implement an effective and affordable email lifecycle management strategy.
Attend this seminar if you’re interested learning how you can offer your clients enterprise-grade online backup services, and understanding why these services are more appropriate for business customers than consumer-grade ‘commodity’ backup services like Mozy and Carbonite.
A little about David Minns
David Minns is a 12-year sales engineering veteran who assists VARs and MSPs with their sales and business services development to small and medium-size businesses. He is an industry evangelist regarding cloud SaaS backup and the annuity revenue opportunities it offers solutions providers.
MSPs and VARs can benefit from Storage Guardian’s enterprise-ready approach:
* A cost-saving tiered-storage approach that includes: a) a local backup of first-generation data; b) a highly available second tier of online backup; c) a third tier of near-line backups of mature data (typically backups that have aged past 90 days).
* Competitive pricing at a rate of $3.00 (50 cents for tiered storage) per compressed GB per month (based on a 3:1 compression ratio).
* Convenience and flexibility are two crucial considerations when a major data restore is needed after a catastrophic server failure. Storage Guardian’s ‘bare metal’ capability can restore data backup up from one server to a completely different server.
* To save time for new customers, the initial backup is performed on a portable drive that is then shipped to Storage Guardian. Similarly, if a major restore of a large amount of data is needed, Storage Guardian can overnight a portable drive containing the data to be restored.
* Storage Guardian’s ultra-secure online backup technology uses AES 256-bit encryption plus hardware authentication. Information to be backed up is de-duplicated (deduped), compressed and encrypted before transmission to Storage Guardian’s SAS-70 compliant datacenter.
If you’re a small business (or an MSP or VAR who works with SMB customers), you might be planning to migrate a physical installation of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 to a virtual model. Before you do, make sure you check the costs associated with switching the license of your backup software.
We’ve been hearing that some online backup vendors are charging an arm and a leg for this — especially if it involves local hardware. So, we’re offering a zero upfront software/hardware cost program that features Asigra technology. Our capacity-based pricing means no additional license fees when making the switch, plus a completely smooth transition to a dependable, cloud-based solution.
Here’s the news release we issued today - but feel free to drop us a line if you’d like to learn more.
TORONTO, CANADA: Small businesses and managed-service providers (MSPs) who are planning to migrate a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 installation from a physical installation to a virtual model have one less cost to worry about: hidden backup software license fees. Effective today, Storage Guardian is offering zero upfront cost transitions for these customers with its “Virtual Roadmap” program. Because Storage Guardian’s online backup solutions are based on the volume of data stored, irrespective of whether it originates from a physical or virtual environment, SQL Server 2008 users can smoothly switch from physical to virtual without any change in license fees, and with minimal disruption. Storage Guardian’s technology is also guaranteed to be compatible with the upcoming SQL Server 2008 Release 2.
“Virtual computing is an attractive option for companies looking to save money on their hardware and maintenance costs, but there are often hidden costs associated with their backup infrastruture,” says Dave Minns, client services manager at Storage Guardian, which specializes in data protection and backup for small businesses and the MSPs and VARs that serve them. “What we’re saying is, make sure that your backup vendor is able to switch you from physical to virtual without charging for a change of license or expensive local hardware.”
Storage Guardian’s technology platform is based on the latest Asigra Televaulting technology, which offers significant advances over other approaches:
* Handles incremental backups as well as Transaction Log backups with automatic truncation that eliminates database corruption. The software backs up a snapshot of the SQL database, so there is no need to use volume shadow backup.
* Transparently integrates open and ‘hot’ SQL Server backups within regularly scheduled network protection routines.
* Restoring to another database server machine is easy, because Storage Guardian supports “rollback restores” that restore databases based on a point in time, rather than a specific backup job.
* Automatic validation and test restore options to ensure the data is valid and restorable.
* Agentless software is cost-effective, efficient, and ideal for a managed-service, subscription-based model.
Why Storage Guardian is the leader for small-business online backup
With more than ten years’ experience and thousands of satisfied customers, Storage Guardian’s remote data backup service has established itself as a dependable provider of enterprise-grade online backup technology for smaller companies. What sets it apart from the many low-cost alternatives in the market are online data backup features optimized for businesses that depend on Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Microsoft Small Business Server 2003/2008, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, Novell GroupWise, and Lotus Notes.
MSPs and VARs can benefit from Storage Guardian’s enterprise-ready approach:
* A cost-saving tiered-storage approach that includes: a) a local backup of first-generation data; b) a highly available second tier of online backup; c) a third tier of near-line backups of mature data (typically backups that have aged past 90 days).
* Competitive pricing at a rate of $3.00 (50 cents for tiered storage) per compressed GB per month (based on a 3:1 compression ratio).
* Convenience and flexibility are two crucial considerations when a major data restore is needed after a catastrophic server failure. Storage Guardian’s ‘bare metal’ capability can restore data backup up from one server to a completely different server.
* To save time for new customers, the initial backup is performed on a portable drive that is then shipped to Storage Guardian. Similarly, if a major restore of a large amount of data is needed, Storage Guardian can overnight a portable drive containing the data to be restored.
* Storage Guardian’s ultra-secure online backup technology uses AES 256-bit encryption plus hardware authentication. Information to be backed up is de-duplicated (deduped), compressed and encrypted before transmission to Storage Guardian’s SAS-70 compliant datacenter.
A major difference between consumer-grade and enterprise-grade online backup is how long data is retained. This is especially important when that data is an email. The latest online backup software from Storage Guardian can recover individual email messages from months or even years ago. Here’s how.
With fast internet connections now commonplace in homes and small businesses, many computer users are considering online backup solutions due to their ’set it and forget it’ simplicity, and attractive pricing. These online backup services can backup documents, applications and even email messages every hour, providing a good safety net for the average user. However, these consumer-grade online backup services share a common attribute: the retention period is defined by the service provider, and is sometimes as little as 30 days. Is that enough? If you’re hoping to restore a crucial document or email message from 2009, you’re probably out of luck unless you’re also backing up to longer-term storage.
As we begin a new decade, Storage Guardian is offering free data retention policy consulting to small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) that are concerned about the robustness and longevity of their online data backups. The prevalence of email as the primary business communications medium is a top concern for owners and IT managers at these businesses. Often, important business decisions are conveyed via email. So, what happens if you need to produce that crucial email message as evidence in business or regulatory situations?
“Companies want to be nimble and agile, and so communications with employees, partners and customers is often via email. This means your email system should be your number one priority when it comes to document retention,” says Dave Minns, client services manager at Storage Guardian. “The most important consideration is the ability to quickly and reliably restore individual mailboxes and messages of current and former employees from prior months and years. Cost is clearly a factor here, so make sure that your online backup system lets you define a data retention policy that is tailored to you needs and budget. Whether it’s 30, 60 or 90 days - we put you in full control.”
Storage Guardian’s advanced features offer what many online backup services cannot: message-level restore. Storage Guardian’s highly granular approach means it can backup email systems such as Microsoft Exchange and Outlook, as well as Novell GroupWise and Lotus Notes. Along with the individual email messages, Storage Guardian also captures personal calendars and contacts. The software automatically handles Personal Storage Table (.PST) files - even if these files are open and locked (as is the case with any mailbox that’s in use). “Consumer-grade services will generally fail to back these up,” cautions Minns.
Storage Guardian is the leader for small-business online backup
With more than ten years of experience and thousands of satisfied customers, Storage Guardian’s remote data backup service has established itself as a dependable provider of enterprise-grade online backup technology for smaller companies. What sets it apart from the many low-cost alternatives in the market are online data backup features optimized for businesses that depend on Microsoft Small Business Server 2003/2008, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, Novell GroupWise, and Lotus Notes. Features include:
A cost-saving tiered-storage approach that includes: a) a local backup of first-generation data; b) a highly available second tier of online backup; c) a third tier of near-line backups of mature data (typically backups that have aged past 90 days).
Convenience and flexibility are two crucial considerations when a major data restore is needed after a catastrophic server failure. Storage Guardian offers the ability to perform a ‘bare metal restore’ to a completely different computer.
To save time for new customers, the initial backup is performed on a portable drive that is then shipped to Storage Guardian. Similarly, if a major restore of a large amount of data is needed, Storage Guardian can overnight a portable drive containing the data to be restored.
Storage Guardian’s ultra-secure online backup technology uses AES 256-bit encryption plus hardware authentication. Information to be backed up is de-duplicated (deduped), compressed and encrypted before transmission to Storage Guardian’s SAS-70 compliant datacenter.
Storage Guardian can also backup and restore individual mailboxes and contacts from Microsoft Exchange and Outlook, as well as Novell GroupWise and Lotus Notes.
About Storage Guardian
Storage Guardian delivers business continuity protection and information lifecycle management. Storage Guardian is used by small and midsize businesses, enterprises, and multiple-platform LAN computing environments that want to safeguard their critical business data in a secure, off-site location. Its remote backup service is the culmination of a decade of intense research and software development and represents a superior alternative to tape-based data recovery systems. All Storage Guardian’s solutions are based on televaulting technology from Asigra, a recognized leader in enterprise online backup. The company is also developing a select network of authorized VARs to service the off-site backup and fast data recovery needs of companies located throughout North America. www.storageguardian.com.
Small and medium-sized businesses are currently facing a ‘data tsunami’ forced on them by regulatory preservation and compliance rules that dictate how they must manage electronically stored information. What’s the best strategy for managing this complex problem?
The paperless office will probably never happen. But while paper still clutters our desks, it’s the electronic paper trail that is proving harder for most businesses to manage. What should you do with the paper and electronic business records your business accumulates each year? What has to be kept year after year, what can be destroyed or disposed of as soon as possible?
The IRS needs this, state law says that, federal laws say something else. And, depending on the industry in which you work, the latest compliance regulations demand that you preserve certain information.
Once you figure out WHAT to keep, you need to decide HOW to keep it. Should you scan the paper documents into the computer? Or should you print out all the electronic correspondence and documents? As you weigh these decisions you need to factor in the cost of off-site paper storage, and the amount of hardcopy versus softcopy you will need to retain.
Once you have established the best policy for documents, you’ll need to next think about email, IM, voice messages, and even SMS messages. What to keep? And for how long? What can be purged immediately? These new forms of correspondence can generate far more volume than ‘regular’ correspondence.
Accessibility is another dimension to the problem - what you will have to produce for auditors or researchers if you have an IRS audit, litigation discovery or human resource issue. This may require you to go through paper files for prior years and electronic files from this time forward. The cost of such a discovery process of audit needs to be managed, both financially and in terms of its impact on your business’ productivity.
Storage Guardian has been managing the preservation and retention of business-critical electronic records of companies for the past 10 years. As a result, we’ve developed some guidelines that apply to most businesses – but make sure to check with a legal expert familiar with the specific federal /state legislation for your industry.
Business Documents <1 Year:
• Un-solicited correspondence by mail, fax, email, instant messaging
• All recorded voice messages, unless part of a contracted relationship
Business Documents for 1 Year minimum after IRS filing:
• Correspondence with customers, vendors (mail, fax, email, instant messaging)
• Purchase orders, receiving documents
• Requisitions, stockroom transfers
• Duplicate deposit slips
Business Documents for 3 Years minimum after IRS filing:
• Administrative and fiscal correspondence (mail, fax, email, instant messaging)
• Employee applications, employment records after termination
• Employee time records
• Internal reports, Internal audit reports
• Bank statements, reconciliations
• Petty cash records
• Expired insurance policies
Business Documents for 6 years minimum after IRS filing:
• Payroll records, including pensioner payments
• Employment tax records
• Time books
• Accident reports, claims
• Accounts payable ledgers and schedules
• Accounts receivable ledgers and schedules
• Notes receivable ledgers and schedules
• Inventories of products, materials, supplies
• Cancelled checks (actual or images)
• Sales records
• Plant cost records
• Department copy purchase orders
• Invoices to customers
• Invoices from vendors
• Expense analysis and expense distribution schedules
• Subsidiary ledgers
• Travel and entertainment records
• Vouchers for payment to vendors, employees
• Vouchers registry, schedules
• Expired leases, contracts (including recorded voice messages, electronic correspondence for contract relationship)
• Cancelled stock and bond certificates
• Expired option records
Business records that should be kept in perpetuity:
Federal law does not require records be kept ‘forever’ but the following are retained ‘indefinitely’ for other reasons.
• Audit reports from CPAs and accountants
• Cancelled checks / funds transfers for important payments (especially tax payments)
• Cash books, charts of accounts
• Contracts, leases currently in effect (including recorded voice messages, electronic correspondence for contract relationship)
• General and private ledgers, year-end trial balances
• Insurance records, current accident reports, claims, policies
• Investment trade confirmations
• IRS revenue agents’ reports
• Journals
• Legal records, correspondence and other important matters
• Minutes of meetings held by directors and stockholders
• Mortgages, bills of sale
• Property appraisals by outside appraisers
• Retirement and pension records
• Tax returns and worksheets
• Trademark and patent registrations
Storage Guardian and its trusted IT partners provide small and medium-sized businesses with off-site migration, protection, preservation and management of their electronic business records. With simple monthly ‘pay for the volume of storage used’ programs—priced in the cents per gigabyte—compliance with retention guidelines is easily implemented.
Through the use of the Internet, all your electronic business records can be stored off-site in data centers and be accessible and recoverable within minutes, via the Web. Instead of placing hardcopies into cardboard banker boxes, and then shipping these boxes off-site for storage, it can all be done electronically. This approach also obviates the continual addition of costly in-house data storage infrastructure to manage the ‘data tsunami’ of ageing business records.
Financial institutions, governments, healthcare companies and all forms of small and medium-sized businesses use storage Guardian’s data centers. The centers are certified to the financial industry’s SAS 70 Type I/II standards. This means all business records are encrypted before going off-site into storage to ensure access is restricted to the owner — both while in transit and when in storage.
As more and more of your business is computer-based and involves electronic records, now is the time to consider how you will handle your ‘data tsunami.’ Look to Storage Guardian and its partners the solution to this problem — contact us today and learn how we can get you started on the road to secure electronic business record management.
Here’s a video that explains how you can define a cost-effective approach to online backup: tiered storage.
